


You Deserve the Best

by cupkakfrosting



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Universe, Disordered Eating, Eating Disorders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Lance (Voltron) Has Self-Esteem Issues, Langst, Male Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Mild Language, One Shot, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupkakfrosting/pseuds/cupkakfrosting
Summary: Hunk confronts Lance about his attitude towards food.
Relationships: Hunk & Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 63





	You Deserve the Best

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this quick one-shot that came to me randomly!
> 
> Definite TW for disordered eating in case you missed the tag.
> 
> <https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline>
> 
> <https://anad.org/get-help/eating-disorders-helpline/>

Lance seemed off, Hunk thought. While he maintained his joking and delightful demeanor, Hunk could swear something was different, something pulling his friend off-balance. For a while, he just couldn’t quite put his finger on it; but over time, things came into focus.

A couple weeks ago, during a recruitment mission, the team had to take out the miniscule number of Galran soldiers who were stationed on a planet. It was genuinely only a dozen, not nearly as many as they had fought previously, as this was an outer planet that didn’t have much value to the Galra Empire.

It ended up being hand-to-hand combat, only lasting a few minutes as Team Voltron began stunning the soldiers one by one. Pidge and Keith pulled off an impressive fighting combo together as Pidge flipped somersaulted around, making sure to have Keith’s back as he advanced on a pair of soldiers. In the other corner, Hunk and Shiro had taken cover behind some rock-like masses on the planet’s surface and were taking a few moments each time to stick their heads out for a quick look and take a few shots at approaching Galrans.

As the dust picked up with all the shuffling, Lance winced and covered his eyes. Up above, the pair of suns burned brightly through the atmosphere and pierced through his helmet, startling him back into awareness and pushing him back into action. He picked up his sword that was lying just a few feet away from where a Galran soldier had parried it off to. In a swift motion, Lance took a precise swing and was greeted by the thud of the soldier falling to the ground.

Grimacing but with a small smile, Lance stumbled back to his feet after losing his center of balance, faltering for a few more moments. The speed at which he’d swung had caused his vision to fill with darkness around the edges, threatening to blind him for a few excruciating ticks as he was forced to wait for his light-headedness to clear up.

In fact, he almost got skewered by a new soldier running at him, but Hunk spotted the danger and took them out before they could reach Lance. At the sound of the blaster going off and hitting its target so close to him, Lance flinched.

“Hey, Lance, you good?” Hunk hollered over to his teammate through the layer of noise of combat.

“Yea, no worries,” Lance returned quickly, taking a moment to slash with his sword again as another attacker approached, his vision finally returned. “Thanks for having my back, man!” Even though the fight was relatively short, Lance’s biceps and calves were burning as he continued maneuvering around opponents. Short of breath, and with sweat running dangerously close to his eyes, Lance took an abrupt side-step as he dodged the fire of a blaster by just a few inches.

Again, the quick movement threatened to make his head explode with spots in his vision and a growing headache. Lance grinded his teeth, breathing heavily and trying to focus on the enemy in front of him, but slowly, after many jumps and swoops down, Lance’s head couldn’t take in any further. He felt himself unwillingly surrendering to the darkness as his sword slipped from his hands, eyes rolling to the back of his head as he fainted and fell to the ground.

…

Hunk had noticed his friend’s unsteadiness throughout the battle; luckily, Lance’s fall was caught in his peripheral vision and Hunk was able to jump out from his hiding spot, rush to Lance, and continue shooting from there, protecting the fallen paladin.

As the battle slowed to a stop, each Galra soldier defeated and lying motionless, the rest of the team rushed to where Hunk stood over Lance.

Hunk dropped his blaster immediately after the last enemy had been stunned and fell to his knees beside Lance.

“Hey, Lance! Are you okay, did you get hit?” This of course did no good, as Lance wasn’t conscious to respond, so Hunk’s panic kept bulldozing on. He lightly shook Lance, but after a moment he gave up and began to search his body for any visible wounds that could explain his sudden collapse. There didn’t seem to be any.

“Dammit, Lance!” By this time, everyone else had gathered and were equally concerned.

“Let’s get him back to the castle and the healing pods,” Shiro said quickly, eyebrows furrowed with fear that he tried to keep hidden.

Nodding, Hunk began to stand, cradling Lance’s head in his arms and swinging his full body weight up. At the time, he didn’t take much of a notice how light his friend was. After determinedly taking hold of Lance carefully, Hunk moved as quickly as possible to his lion.

...

Lance woke up from the healing pod only a few hours later, which surprised everyone on the team. They’d assumed that injuries that were bad enough to cause fainting would probably take a while to heal, but they were just glad their teammate was alright and didn’t question it further. Hunk did, however, find it strange, and it continued to bother him for weeks after.

…

Another piece in the puzzle known as Lance was easily observable during meals on the castle, though Lance did a fairly good job of concealing it for those who weren't paying all too much attention.

Some days, he would spend the entire day training. Up in the morning, immediately heading to the training deck and working with bots to increase his stamina and fighting accuracy. Then onto team training in the late morning. A lunch break would be called, but he’d end up sneaking off to head back to the training deck. This time he’d take a chance with the next level or two, ahead of the rest of the team, determined to get to the point where he wouldn’t break a sweat, where he could never be a nuisance during team exercises. And even better, never a nuisance during real battle situations.

Then onto the evening training, switching between pairs and individual bot battles. Allura would compliment Lance’s improvement, and Lance would be satisfied. He’d be thinking to himself that the praise made it all worth it; the fact that he wasn’t being yelled at anymore for minor slip-ups was worth it in his eyes.

Dinner would come, though, and the whole team, tired and sweaty, would arrive at the kitchens excited for a rest. But Lance would have an excuse: an upset stomach, a pulled muscle, bathroom emergency; something would pull him out of dinner and bring him back to his rooms, alone, to do more personal training or to just sleep. Crumbling onto his bed completely exhausted at the end of the day, he’d not even feel the slightest twinge of an appetite, regardless of the rumbling that was easily heard.

Other days, though, Hunk would have things more obvious to notice. Days when Lance’s appetite returned, but when he still refused a proper meal. When the last bot of the afternoon was taken down and broken apart, Hunk would glance over at Lance after wiping away his sweat, reminding him to come down to lunch.

“After I shower, man!” Lance usually remarked, waving off his friend and giving him a playful smirk while brushing aside his damp hair out of his eyes. “I’ll be there in just a bit.”

Hunk would give a small nod in return and watch him go, a sad feeling lingering in him as he forced himself to walk with the rest of the team to the kitchens without following Lance.

But on these days, Lance would actually show up after fifteen minutes, freshly showered and looking rather hungry after hours of intense training. He would sit down, smile at the others, join the conversation in a few jokes and share a few laughs; but his meal would sit nearly untouched.

Hunk would watch his friend out of the corner of his eye, noticing how Lance would eye his plate, sometimes sifting through with a utensil. A few bites here and there, accompanied by swallows that looked almost painful. Like he instantly regretted letting his body take in the nutrients it desperately needed to function.

Hunk would always look away after a few ticks, not wanting to impose on what felt like an emotionally-charged moment. And worse, something that would linger in his mind for ages: he never seemed to know how to speak up about it to Lance.

…

Lance fainted again on a mission. And then another. And another.

Eventually, Hunk could no longer stand watching his friend suffer in silence anymore. He refused to stand by without doing anything anymore. Hunk knew Lance deserved better than the treatment he was giving himself; there was no doubt of that.

He didn't want to pry, but things were going too far. After a few days of contemplation, he decided he needed to confront his friend. Not with the other paladins, though. He wasn’t sure how Lance would respond, and having more people there might stress him out unnecessarily.

Of course, the rest of the team was equally worried about Lance, but they couldn’t quite think of what to say since they hadn’t yet connected the dots together about what Lance was struggling with.

Hunk had finally put two and two together about a week ago and ever since then, he’d been thinking about what to say to Lance. Many restless nights later, staring at the ceiling and playing scenarios in his mind, he finally felt ready enough for what was sure to be a difficult conversation.

After a long and gruesome training session, when the others were already on their way to dinner, rather than letting Lance walk away back to his room without being seen, Hunk instead spoke up: “Hey… Lance?” Lance turned back, swinging his towel around his neck and pivoting to face Hunk.

“Yea, what’s up? I’m just heading for a shower.” Lance jabbed his thumb, pointing behind him.Hunk studied Lance’s face; he was so good at acting normal, and it was starting to scare him.

“Any chance we can talk? There’s something I need to say to you.” At this, Lance’s face twisted slightly in confusion. He moved and began wringing the towel in his hands, further turning to fully face Hunk. “Is everything okay?”

Hunk could have laughed at that moment, the irony of Lance’s words echoing in his skull, but he didn’t. Surprising himself, Hunk realized it was the simmering of anger that he had to repress as he carefully thought out a response.

“Yea, bud, don’t worry, I’m all good. It’s actually, uh…” he scratched the back of his neck. “Can I wait to explain until we’re in your room or something?”

After a slight hesitation, Lance responded with “Of course, sure.” With that being said, Lance turned on his heel and began to lead Hunk through the castle to reach his rooms.

The walk was silent, which was strange for the both of them. Both would probably easily be able to say that the other was their best friend there, after having been so close at the Garrison even before deepening their bond here in space with Voltron. They had always understood each other, often even without words.

But right now, they were both at a loss, unsure what the other was thinking. Lance was afraid, but so was Hunk; they both could tell there would be some sort of uncomfortable conversation coming up, but they knew better than to try avoiding it. They cared too much about each other to ignore when negative things came up.

After a few minutes, they reached the door, and Lance opened it up quickly. He paused for a moment, hand on the frame of the door, before glancing back at Hunk. Hunk could feel Lance’s eyes peering far into his.

“You sure everything’s okay? You’ve been uncharacteristically quiet.”

“Don’t worry about me, Lance.” The blunt phrasing left a twinge of confusion on Lance’s face, which didn’t do all that well at concealing the true fear he’d been feeling up until this point. He knew now that Hunk was really going to have a serious conversation with him.

He’d never been more anxiety-ridden. But then again, neither had Hunk.

Another moment passed between them in their mini staring contest before Lance finally swiveled inside the room, letting Hunk follow after him before letting the door slide shut. Making his way to his bed, Lance stared at his shoes but finally looked back up at his friend after sitting down, hands in pockets.

Hunk broke eye contact to find a chair alongside the wall; after pulling it closer to Lance and taking a seat, he heaved a huge sigh. Closed his eyes, rubbed his hand across his forehead.

“Man, you know I love you, right?”

“Yea, Hunk, I know. I love you too, you’re my best friend.” Lance responded without hesitation, but his eyebrows betrayed his true emotions as panic flared throughout his body. They didn’t usually say this stuff all too often.

“Alright, then I guess I’ll just be straightforward with all this.” Hunk leaned forward in his seat, elbows resting on his knees, and looked directly into Lance’s eyes. “I know that you’re struggling right now, Lance. I know that you have been for a while. But you don’t need to be alone; we can talk about it and I can help you through this in any way I can.” Hunk exhaled, his adrenaline spiking, completely unsure what Lance would say next.

Lance was honestly shocked. His eyes had widened. He was frozen for about 30 ticks before finally shaking out of it. He shifted his gaze to his hands, which were now fidgeting around in his lap.

“I… this might be dumb. But can you clarify, um, what you mean?” Lance’s feet were also fidgeting by this point. “Because I am struggling. But I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding about what’s happening exactly.”

Hunk was relieved. Lance hadn’t just reverted to deflecting what he had said.

“I’m talking about how you’re… about the way you…” Hunk inhaled for a moment, considering what words to use. “One way to say it might be your unhealthy relationship with food.”

Sounded about right to Lance. Hunk was no longer looking at Lance, so he missed the first few tears that glistened on Lance’s cheeks. After a moment, redirecting his gaze did cause him to notice and made Hunk feel instantly guilty.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Lance,” Hunk said pathetically, not sure what else to add.

Wiping at his face and sniffling, Lance choked out “Don’t worry. Really.” After composing himself, Lance continued.

“I… I don’t know how to explain what’s happening. Everything’s so confusing.”

“That’s okay, Lance.” Hunk gave a small smile. “Just try for now. If you need to stop, that’s one hundred percent okay.” Hunk just wanted to be there for Lance in whatever way he was comfortable with.

Lance gave a soft smile in return as another few silent tears found their way out of his eyes.

“God, I’m so lucky to have you,” he said, half laughing and half crying. “I know you haven’t said much, but I honestly never thought anyone noticed that anything was wrong. Maybe that was dumb, but I’m just… just so glad to have you in my corner.” Hunk couldn’t stop himself from shedding a few tears at that too, and leaned forward to grip Lance’s shoulder. He looked firmly into his eyes for a tick or two before retracting his hand. Lance again stifled before talking again.

“It’s so weird. Part of me knows what I’m doing to my body is just… bad. Unhealthy. Especially when it makes me f-f-faint during battles.” Some stuttering made Lance take in a few slow, deep breaths. “I know how dangerous that is, for myself and for the people we’re meant to be protecting.” Lance shook his head slowly.

“But another part of me thinks that, at the same time, I somehow just deserve it. That I’m not good enough… not a good enough paladin, not a good enough fighter, or a friend, not enough to deserve things. To deserve the food.” Lance was no longer able to look at Hunk in the eye. At the same time, Hunk was holding back violent tears at his friend’s words.

“This dissonance I feel makes everything so damn confusing. Like, I’m so glad you’re here for me right now, but before we started talking, I was just so… scared and panicked that you would call me out, because I didn’t want to stop doing this to myself. I still don’t, not fully… agh.” Lance put his head in his hands, squeezing his eyes shut as the tears didn’t stop. 

“Lance… can I say something? Do you need a tick?” Hunk asked timidly, concern laced in his voice.

Lance waved his hand at Hunk while shaking his head slightly. “No, no, I’m good.” He straightened up and wiped his face again, attention on Hunk.

Hunk took a deep breath. “Alright, bud. Listen to me here. You. Are. Amazing. You’re so strong.” Hunk leaned forward a bit further. “No joke. One thousand percent serious. I can’t think of anyone who’s gone through more than you. You went through so much here in space, and hell,” he gave a slight laugh, “a shit-ton on Earth, too. I mean, do you know anyone else who pushed through intense homesickness in order to keep kicking alien ass?” He was glad to see a slight light in Lance’s eyes along with an amused curl of his lips at this line. He continued.

“I know things feel tough. It’s hard for me, too. And I know you won’t be able to quote-unquote ‘fix’ things overnight. You can’t change how you act about food even in a week. You need time to heal, to talk to me and all the rest of our friends who love and care for you. You have a support system here, even in the middle of a war with Galrans, even while we go around flying through space inside sentient robotic lions.” Lance actually smiled and huffed out a tiny laugh, and Hunk took the victory for what it was. “I’m here. _We’re_ here.” He said this as strongly and confidently as possible.

“We. Are. Here,” Hunk repeated. “You are so amazing, Lance; you give so much effort in liberating innocent species, innocent planets; you have the kindest heart out of anyone I’ve ever known.” Hunk’s eyes continued shimmering with new tears as he became more choked up. “You will always amaze me with how strong and dedicated you are. Your loyalty to your friends and to Voltron’s cause...” Big breath, keep the tears falling at a manageable pace, Hunk told himself. “You, Lance… You deserve the best. The. Best.”

Both Hunk and Lance’s eyes were at this point completely welling up with tears, far past the point of no return.

With one final breath before the tears made it impossible to speak, Hunk reiterated: “You. Deserve. The best.”

That was nearly the last emotional straw; the balance neared the tipping point. Lance’s breath hitched as he fought to not break down into full-on sobs.

“H-Hey, Lance.” Hunk said through his own tears, placing his hand on Lance’s arm. “It’s okay. It’s okay t-to cry.”

Such a simple sentence, but it was all Lance needed to fully let go and let his emotions consume him. Small tears turned to sobs as he pushed himself into Hunk’s arms, allowing himself to relax and rely on his friend’s strong embrace to keep him afloat.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> <https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline>
> 
> <https://anad.org/get-help/eating-disorders-helpline/>


End file.
